History of the Occult

History of the Occult (Spanish: *Historia de lo Oculto*) is a 2020 horror-thriller and the feature directorial debut of writer-director Cristian Ponce. Co-produced by Argentina and Mexico, the movie is structured as the last installment of a fictional late-night Argentine news show from the 1980s called *60 Minutos Antes de la Medianoche*. In this broadcast, the program’s journalists try to uncover a plot linking their own government to a shadowy corporation involved in black magic.

Shot in black-and-white, the story takes place in Buenos Aires in 1987 during the final airing of *60 Minutos Antes de la Medianoche*. The show had been canceled after a year-long investigation into President Belasco’s economic policies, corruption, and rumored occult connections. The episode starts at 11 p.m., just before a midnight protest against the president. Host Alfredo interviews Senator Matías Linares, sociologist Daniel Aguilar, and Adrián Marcato—vice president of Kingdom Corporate, Argentina’s largest company and a suspected warlock. Two of these guests appear in a notebook found at a ritual murder linked to political killings. Meanwhile, the show’s producers—Maria, Lucio, Jorge, and Abel—watch from a safe house, hoping Marcato will implicate Belasco live. Their colleague Natalia searches the city for a hidden artifact crucial to the case.

During the interview, Marcato asks Linares how many daughters he has. Linares says two, but Marcato insists there are three, claiming Linares “gave up” the youngest and forgot her. The argument escalates, and Linares leaves. Marcato then discusses alternate realities, suggesting Linares’ third daughter no longer exists in “this” reality. At the same time, the journalists receive hallucinogenic tannis root from Von Merkens Labs—Belasco’s political rivals and the show’s only remaining sponsor—and use it in a ritual to help Natalia find the evidence before midnight.

Marcato calmly admits on air that he is a warlock, trained in dark arts by his grandmother as a child. Jorge starts seeing visions of a red light and asks Maria how many children each man in the conspiracy has. Her answers match their records, including that Marcato has no children—contradicting a caller who made obscene remarks about Marcato’s daughter. When Aguilar mocks Marcato, Marcato makes him bleed from his nose and eyes. Following Abel’s instructions, Maria, Jorg